NAWG’s Keeff Felty Talks Wheat Crop in Southwest Oklahoma

Listen to KC Sheperd’s full conversation with Keeff Felty.
Keeff Felty

Farm director, KC Sheperd is visiting with Keeff Felty of the National Association of Wheat Growers about the winter wheat crop in Oklahoma.

“In comparison to last year for sure, in southwest Oklahoma where I am from in Altus, it looks like we are going to have a better crop,” Felty said. “Not appreciably better, but it looks like it going to be a better crop.”

The conditions of this drought, Felty said, are comparable to the drought around the years 2012 and 2013.

“We learned that you do your best-case scenarios, and you see what happens with the weather and things,” Felty said. “Of course, we do have some different wrinkles this time with high input costs and commodity prices are higher, but nothing makes up for lack of production.”

Altus got a little rain last week, Felty said, but not a significant amount.

“Last year, we had no irrigation,” Felty said. “To date, it looks like we aren’t going to have any this year, but things can change in a hurry.”

The remaining wheat in Altus that has not been taken out or converted to hay, Felty said, has shown some improvements after recent rains.

“We are still definitely in a very deficit situation as far as soil moisture goes, and in any of our spring and early summer planted crops, we are not sufficient to sustain those at this point,” Felty said.

New technology helps to make many things easier for farmers, Felty said, but at the end of the day, no one can control the weather conditions.

“You just do the best you can with the information that you have,” Felty said.

Looking at the 2023 Farm Bill, Felty said crop insurance is the number one component of the farm safety net.

“It is what is enabling things to work through the extremes, shall we say, of weather and other conditions beyond our control,” Felty said.

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